Boone, with Finley and others, start on their exploring
expedition--Boone kills a panther in the night--Their progress over the
mountains--They descend into the great valley--Description of the new
country--Herds of buffaloes--Their wanderings in the wilderness.
The first of May, 1769, Finley and Boone, with four others, whose names
were Stewart, Holden, Mooney, and Cool, and who had pledged themselves
to the undertaking, were assembled at the house of Boone, in readiness
to commence their journey. It may be imagined that all the neighbors
gathered to witness their departure. A rifle, ammunition, and a light
knapsack were all the baggage with which they dared encumber themselves.
Provisions for a few days were bestowed along with the clothing deemed
absolutely necessary for comfort upon the long route. No shame could
attach to the manhood and courage of Daniel Boone from the fact that
tears were said to have rushed to his eyes, as he kissed his wife and
children before he turned from his door for the last time for months,
and perhaps forever. The nature of the pioneer was as gentle and
affectionate as it was firm and persevering. He had power, however, to
send back the unbidden gush to its source, and forcibly to withdraw his
mind from enervating thoughts.
Beside, the natural elasticity of his temperament and the buoyancy of
his character came to his aid. The anticipation of new and strange
incidents operated to produce in the minds of the travellers, from the
commencement of the enterprise, a kind of wild pleasure.
With alert and vigorous steps they pursued a north-west course, and were
soon beyond the reach of the most distant view of their homes. This day
and night, and the succeeding one, the scenes in view were familiar; but
in the course of the four or five that followed, all vestiges of
civilized habitancy had disappeared. The route lay through a solitary
and trackless wilderness. Before them rose a line of mountains, shooting
up against the blue of the horizon, in peaks and elevations of all
forms. The slender store of food with which they had set out, was soon
exhausted. To obtain a fresh supply was the first and most pressing
want. Accordingly, a convenient place was selected, and a camp
constructed of logs and branches of trees, to keep out the dew and rain.
The whole party joined in this preliminary arrangement. When it was so
far completed, as to enable a part to finish it before night-fall, part
of the company took their rifles and went in different directions in
pursuit of game. They returned in time for supper, with a couple of deer
and some wild turkeys. Those, whose business it was to finish the camp,
had made a generous fire and acquired keen appetites for the coming
feast. The deer were rapidly dressed, so far at least as to furnish a
supper of venison. It had not been long finished, and the arrangements
for the night made, before the clouds, which had been gathering
blackness for some hours, rolled up in immense folds from the point,
whence was heard the sudden burst of a furious wind. The lightning
darted from all quarters of the heavens. At one moment every object
stood forth in a glare of dazzling light. The next the darkness might
almost be felt. The rain fell in torrents, in one apparently unbroken
sheet from the sky to the earth. The peals of thunder rolled almost
unheard amid this deafening rush of waters. The camp of the travellers,
erected with reference to the probability of such an occurrence, was
placed under the shelter of a huge tree, whose branches ran out
laterally, and were of a thickness of foliage to be almost impervious to
the rain. To this happy precaution of the woodsmen, they owed their
escape from the drenching of the shower. They were not, perhaps, aware
of the greater danger from lightning, to which their position had
exposed them.
As was the universal custom in cases like theirs, a watch was kept by
two, while the others slept. The watches were relieved several times
during the night. About midnight, Boone and Holden being upon the watch,
the deep stillness abroad was broken by a shrill scream, resembling the
shriek of a frightened woman or child more nearly than any other sound.
The two companions had been sitting in a contemplative mood, listening
to the deep breathing of the sleepers, when this cry came upon their
ears. Both sprang erect. "What is that?" exclaimed Holden, who was not
an experienced backwoodsman, in comparison with the others. "Hush!"
answered Boone; "do not wake the rest. It is nothing but the cry of a
panther. Take your gun and come with me."
They stole gently from the camp and listened in breathless silence for a
repetition of the cry. It was soon repeated, indicating the place where
the animal was. Groping cautiously through the bushes in its direction,
frequently stopping to look around, and holding their rifles ready for
an instantaneous shot, they drew near the formidable animal. At length
they discovered at a little distance before them, two balls that glared
with an intense brightness, like that of living coals of fire. Boone,
taking deliberate aim, in the best manner that the darkness would
permit, discharged his rifle. The yell of pain from the animal, as it
was heard leaping among the undergrowth in an opposite direction,
satisfied Boone that his shot had taken sufficient effect to prevent a
second disturbance from it, at least for that night, and he returned to
the camp with his companion. The sleepers, aroused by the report of the
gun, were awaiting him. The account of the adventure afforded
speculation, touching the point, whether the animal had been killed or
would return again. Early the next morning, some were dispatched to
bring in more game, while others prepared and dried what had already
been obtained. The whole day was spent in this way and the night
following passed without any disturbance.
With the first light of the sun on the succeeding morning, they threw
their knapsacks over their shoulders, and leaving their temporary
shelter to benefit any who might come after them, resumed their route.
They had not proceeded far before an animal stretched on the ground
attracted attention. It was a dead panther. By comparing the size of the
ball, which had killed it, with those used by Boone, the party were
satisfied that this was the same animal he had shot the night after the
storm.
During the day they began the ascent of the ridge of the Alleghany, that
had for some days bounded their view. The mountainous character of the
country, for some miles, before the highest elevations rose to sight,
rendered the travelling laborious and slow. Several days were spent in
this toilsome progress. Steep summits, impossible to ascend, impeded
their advance, compelling them to turn aside, and attain the point above
by a circuitous route. Again they were obliged to delay their journey
for a day, in order to obtain a fresh supply of provisions. This was
readily procured, as all the varieties of game abounded on every side.
The last crags and cliffs of the middle ridges having been scrambled
over, on the following morning they stood on the summit of Cumberland
mountain, the farthest western spur of this line of heights. From this
point the descent into the great western valley began. What a scene
opened before them! A feeling of the sublime is inspired in every bosom
susceptible of it, by a view from any point of these vast ranges, of the
boundless forest valleys of the Ohio. It is a view more grand, more
heart-stirring than that of the ocean. Illimitable extents of wood, and
winding river courses spread before them like a large map. "Glorious
country!" they exclaimed. Little did Boone dream that in fifty years,
immense portions of it would pass from the domain of the hunter--that it
would contain four millions of freemen, and its waters be navigated by
nearly two hundred steam boats, sweeping down these streams that now
rolled through the unbroken forests before them. To them it stood forth
an unexplored paradise of the hunter's imagination.
After a long pause, in thoughts too deep for words, they began the
descent, which was made in a much shorter time than had been required
for the opposite ascent; and the explorers soon found themselves on the
slopes of the subsiding hills. Here the hunter was in his element. To
all the party but Finley, the buffaloes incidentally seen in small
numbers in the valleys, were a novel and interesting sight. It had as
yet been impossible to obtain a shot at them, from their distance or
position. It may be imagined with what eagerness Boone sought an
opportunity to make his first essay in this exciting and noble species
of hunting.
The first considerable drove came in sight on the afternoon of the day
on which the travellers reached the foot of the mountains. The day had
been one of the most beautiful of spring. The earth was covered with
grass of the freshest green. The rich foliage of the trees, in its
varied shading, furnished its portion of the loveliness of the
surrounding landscape. The light of the declining sun lay full on the
scene of boundless solitude. The party had descended into a deep glen,
which wound through the opening between the highlands, still extending a
little in advance of them. They pursued its course until it terminated
in a beautiful little plain. Upon advancing into this, they found
themselves in an area of considerable extent, almost circular in form,
bounded on one half its circumference by the line of hills, from among
which they had just emerged. The other sections of the circle were
marked by the fringe of wood that bordered a stream winding from the
hills, at a considerable distance above. The buffaloes advanced from the
skirt of wood, and the plain was soon filled by the moving mass of these
huge animals.
The exploring adventurers perceived themselves in danger of what has
more than once happened in similar situations. The prospect seemed to be
that they would be trampled under the feet of the reckless and sweeping
body, in their onward course.
"They will not turn out for us," said Finley; "and If we do not conduct
exactly right, we shall be crushed to death."
The inexperienced adventurers bade him direct them in the emergency.
Just as the front of the phalanx was within short rifle distance, he
discharged his rifle and brought down one of the bulls, that seemed to
be a file leader, by a ball between the horns. The unwieldy animal fell.
The mass raised a deafening sort of bellow, and became arrested, as if
transfixed to the spot. A momentary confusion of the mass behind ensued.
But, borne along by the pressure of the multitudes still in the rear,
there was a gradual parting of the herd direct from the front, where the
fallen buffalo lay. The disruption once made, the chasm broadened, until
when the wings passed the travellers, they were thirty yards from the
divisions on either hand. To prevent the masses yet behind from closing
their lines, Finley took the rifle of one of his companions, and
levelled another. This changed the pace of the animals to a rout. The
last masses soon thundered by, and left them gazing in astonishment, not
unmixed with joy, in realizing their escape, "Job of Uz," exclaimed
Boone, "had not larger droves of cattle than we. In fact, we seem to
have had in this instance an abundance to a fault."
As this was an era in their adventures, and an omen of the abundance of
the vast regions of forests which they had descried from the summits of
the mountains, they halted, made a camp, and skinned the animals,
preserving the skins, fat, tongues, and choice pieces. No epicures ever
feasted higher than these athletic and hungry hunters, as they sat
around their evening fire, and commented upon the ease with which their
wants would be supplied in a country thus abounding with such animals.
After feasting again in the morning on the spoils of the preceding day,
and packing such parts of the animals as their probable necessities
suggested, they commenced their march; and in no great distance reached
Red river, a branch of the Cumberland. They followed the meanders of
this river for some miles, until they reached, on the 7th day of June,
Finley's former station, where his preceding explorations of the western
country had terminated.
Their journey to this point had lasted more than a month; and though the
circumstances in which they had made it, had been generally auspicious,
so long a route through unknown forests, and over precipitous mountains,
hitherto untrodden by white men, could not but have been fatiguing in
the extreme. None but such spirits could have sustained their hardships
without a purpose to turn back, and leave their exploration
unaccomplished.
They resolved in this place to encamp, and remain for a time sufficient
to recruit themselves for other expeditions and discoveries. The weather
had been for some time past, and still remained, rainy and unpleasant;
and it became necessary that their station should be of such a
construction, as to secure them a dry sleeping place from the rain. The
game was so abundant, that they found it a pleasure, rather than a
difficulty, to supply themselves with food. The buffaloes were seen like
herds of cattle, dispersed among the cane-brakes, or feeding on the
grass, or ruminating in the shade. Their skins were of great utility, in
furnishing them with moccasins, and many necessary articles
indispensable to their comfortable subsistence at their station.
What struck them with unfailing pleasure was, to observe the soil, in
general, of a fertility without example on the other side of the
mountains. From an eminence in the vicinity of their station, they could
see, as far as vision could extend, the beautiful country of Kentucky.
They remarked with astonishment the tall, straight trees, shading the
exuberant soil, wholly clear from any other underbrush than the rich
cane-brakes, the image of verdure and luxuriance, or tall grass and
clover. Down the gentle slopes murmured clear limestone brooks. Finley,
who had some touch of scripture knowledge, exclaimed in view of this
wilderness-paradise, so abundant in game and wild fowls, "This
wilderness blossoms as the rose; and these desolate places are as the
garden of God."
"Ay," responded Boone; "and who would remain on the sterile pine hills
of North Carolina, to hear the screaming of the jay, and now and then
bring down a deer too lean to be eaten? This is the land of hunters,
where man and beast will grow to their full size."
They ranged through various forests, and crossed the numerous streams of
the vicinity. By following the paths of the buffaloes, bears, deer, and
other animals, they discovered the Salines or _Licks_, where salt is
made at the present day. The paths, in approaching the salines, were
trodden as hard and smooth, as in the vicinity of the farm-yards of the
old settlements. Boone, from the principle which places the best pilot
at the helm in a storm, was not slow to learn from innumerable
circumstances which would have passed unnoticed by a less sagacious
woodsman, that, although the country was not actually inhabited by
Indians, it was not the less a scene of strife and combat for the
possession of such rich hunting grounds by a great number of tribes. He
discovered that it was a common park to these fierce tribes; and none
the less likely to expose them to the dangers of Indian warfare, because
it was not claimed or inhabited by any particular tribe. On the
contrary, instead of having to encounter a single tribe in possession,
he foresaw that the jealousy of all the tribes would be united against
the new intruders.
These fearless spirits, who were instinctively imbued with an abhorrence
of the Indians, heeded little, however, whether they had to make war on
them, or the wild beasts. They felt in its fullest force that
indomitable elasticity of character, which causes the possessor, every
where, and in all forms of imagined peril, to feel sufficient to
themselves. Hence the lonely adventurers continued fearlessly to explore
the beautiful positions for settlements, to cross and name the rivers,
and to hunt.
By a happy fatality, through all the summer they met with no Indians,
and experienced no impediment in the way of the most successful hunting.
During the season, they had collected large quantities of peltries, and
meeting with nothing to excite apprehension or alarm, they became
constantly more delighted with the country.
So passed their time, until the 22d of December. After this period
adventures of the most disastrous character began to crowd upon them. We
forthwith commence the narrative of incidents which constitute the
general color of Boone's future life.
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